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A federal judge yesterday ordered the Department of Justice to make detainee cases at Guantanamo Bay a priority. The judge argued that the detainees have been waiting for their day in court for too many years, and that they must be dealt with. In response, the Justice Department said that that one in five of the roughly 270 remaining detainee cases at Guantanamo have been cleared for release. (AP)

Congressional Republicans are blaming the federal government for not having appropriate safety standards for chemicals in FEMA trailers used by Hurricane Katrina victims. This removes blame from the trailer companies for using high levels of formaldehyde in the trailers. (AP)

A new report out from the GAO claims federal officials often delete government email, creating gaps in the public record. The report was released on the eve of a scheduled House vote on a bill that would establish standards for email preservation by federal agencies. (Washington Post)

Members of Congress who teach part-time make vast sums of money in contrast to most other part-time university professors. The members claim that their teaching deals were approved by the House ethics committee, but some are questioning the stark difference in salaries as an unethical "special deal". (Roll Call)

The son of Dickie Scruggs wants to serve jail-time with his dad. Dickie's son Zach was sentenced to 14 months for failing to notify authorities that his father and a partner were trying to bribe a state court judge. (Sun Herald)

Congressional investigators have revealed that Medicare paid up to $92 million since 2000 to medical suppliers for goods prescribed by dead doctors. This scam by medical equipment suppliers was first identified by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2001, and has be rectified. (Washington Post)


4 Comments

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What? Are Congressional Republicans saying that the free market isn't more efficient than the government at providing non-toxic emergency trailers?

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Isn't that just the Republican way - kill the Katrina survivors, absolve the guilty parties & and then charge the taxpayers for it all.

It's like Hitler charging the Jews for the privilege of being gassed.

The Republican kill & bill mentality seems to run through everything they do, from Katrina, Iraq, Blackwater massacres, to unsuspecting gambling boat owners.

It makes one wonder if the rotting section in hell isn't being renamed the Ashcroft-Gonzales-Mukasey Complex.

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Quick, check the records for donations to Republicans from trailer manufacturers! Betcha there's been a spike.

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This scam by medical equipment suppliers was first identified by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2001, and has be rectified.

I think you want "has yet to be rectified."

Nonetheless, since this is another agency under executive control, we should all know that the major focus of their efforts was to further the Republican cause and achieve that permanent Republican majority.

Senate investigators obtained from the American Medical Association a computer file of physicians who had died between 1992 and 2002. They selected 1,500 at random and asked Medicare officials to turn over medical-equipment claims filed with those doctors' Medicare ID numbers between 2000 and 2007.

During that time, the review said, ID numbers for 734 deceased doctors were used to file 21,458 claims that totaled $3.4 million.

Hey, that's under 50 percent! What do you Democrats want? Efficiency? Give those poor Bush appointees a break!

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